AV8 Phase Locked Loop Board

Introduction

Refer To Block Diagram

The phase locked loop performs a comparison between the incoming master clock from the crystal semiconductors SPDIF receiver chip CS8415A and a locally derived master clock from an xtal based Voltage controlled oscillator (VCXO).

The comparison is made at Fs (44.1 or 48 KHz) rather than the master clock frequency (256xFs) as this improves the low frequency noise rejection of the circuit. The micro controller on the main digital PCB (L896) knows what the incoming frequency is and can select the appropriate Xtal oscillator using the control lines XTAL11.2896 and XTAL 12.288.

The phase comparison is used to dump or source current from an integrating circuit which filters the pulses and converts the charge to a voltage to control the VCXO.

When charge is dumped onto the integrator the voltage decreases (as it inverts) and this in turn reduces the reverse bias across the voltage control capacitor (Varicap). Reducing the reverse bias makes the depletion region in the diode become smaller increasing the capacitance.

Increasing the capacitance increases the load capacitance on the xtal oscillator and thus reduces the frequency at which the crystal oscillates. (The circuit works in the opposite manner if charge is sourced off of the integrator) This is the method by which frequency lock is achieved. The phase of the circuit is arbitrary as it uses two dividers that generate the Fs signals.

The bypass circuit feeds the clock from the CS8415A direct to the rest of the circuits in the event of any of the following conditions.

!Phase locked loop cannot lock to the incoming signal (i.e. it is not at Fs = 44.1 or 48KHz)

!To much jitter on the signal that it goes outside the +/- 150PPM tolerance

!When the loop is actively locking onto signal

In the event that the circuit is knocked out of lock for any reason more than three times after the DSPs on the main board have been reset it defaults to staying in bypass. This is to prevent the situation where the master clock is repeatedly lost.

Description

Refer to circuit diagram L948 sheet 1

The master clock from the digital PCB L896 comes in on pin 2 of SK3 goes to both the divider IC1 and to the bypass circuit IC6. The divider divides by 256 and the clock at Fs then goes to the Comp input of the Phase comparator IC4.

As the integrator inverts the polarity of the control voltage the inputs on the Phase comparator are swapped over so that the comparison input is used for the main signal and the signal input is used for the comparison input. This corrects the polarity of the complete control loop.

The sig input on the phase comparator is fed from the second divider IC2. IC2 divides the output of the voltage controlled xtal oscillator by 256 so that it is also at Fs.

The phase comparator output PC2 generates a charge pulse if the two signals are not exactly in phase and this pulse is filtered and integrated by the opamp circuit IC5. IC5 runs from +/- 12V rails so that the control voltage range can be increased from 5V at the output of the phase comparator to approximately 20V (+/- 10v) at the output of the opamp. The increase voltage range allows a much greater capacitance range to be achieved on the varicaps D1 and D2. IC5 pin 3 is biased to 2.5 volts so that the 0 to 5V input range can be converted to a positive and negative output voltage.

IC5 Loop filter.

0V on the input = 10V on the output and 5V on the input = -10V on the output

The DC control voltage from the output of IC5 pin 6 is fed to the input of the varicaps D1 and D2. C31 and C35 provide an AC ground for the oscillator circuit. R10,R11,C33,C40 and R12,R13,C38,C41 create a filtered negative 12V bias for the diode so that a maximum voltage of 22V (12V +10V) from opamp and a minimum of 2V (12V –10V) can be present on the varicap.

The oscillator is a collpits type, the gain is provided by the RF transistor Q1 and Q2. The oscillator can be turned on and off by the digital transistors Q3 and Q5 this removes the load from the emitter of the RF transistors. The output of the oscillator is via the capacitors C50 and C51 after the capacitors the signal is biased to the threshold point of the following gates IC3A and IC3C. The gates amplify the signal then the signal is fed back to the input of the loop to the divider IC IC2 and to the input of a second buffer. The second buffer is so that the micro can switch between the original clock and the phase locked clock buffer. This is achieved by IC3B and IC3D and the output (phase locked or bypass) is fed back to the main digital PCB L896.

Q4 in the bypass feed is used to mute the input to IC3D when the circuit is phased locked. This is to reduce any cross talk from the original input master clock and the de- jittered phase locked master clock.

Lock detection is performed using the PC1/PCP out (PIN2) of IC4 the phase comparator. This signal goes low whenever there is any phase error between the two incoming signals so it can be used to determine if the signal is in lock. When the signal is in lock this is always high or has very small variations only due to tiny phase error corrections. If the signals go out of lock the signal goes low and the capacitor C12 is discharged fast via the diode D3, to charge the cap up again the signal has to pass through the resistor R15 so the circuit is biased towards indication out of lock very quickly and only showing lock when the signal has been high for some time. As the output of the PCP is a 5V signal and the Schmitt trigger IC7 is a 3.3V part a potential divider is used to reduce this voltage to a maximum of 2.5V by R15 and R25. The Schmitt trigger cleans up the edge of this lock detection signal and buffers it to be fed back to the micro controller.

When the micro detects a lock signal it waits a further 3 seconds to make sure the lock is stable then checks the lock signal again before switching from the bypass circuit to the phase locked clock.

 

 

Specification

Range

 

 

 

 

Lock range 44.1 KHz

11.2896 MHz +/-

 

150PPM

 

 

Lock range 48 KHz

12.288MHz +/-

 

150PPM

 

 

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Arcam AV8 Introduction Refer To Block Diagram, Description Refer to circuit diagram L948 sheet, Specification Range

AV8 specifications

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